At least five people, including a woman, were killed and over 50 others injured today as police opened fire during clashes with Islamists who enforced a nationwide shutdown demanding execution of "atheist bloggers" for alleged blasphemy.
Five people were killed when strike supporters clashed with the police and local people in Manikganj's Singair upazila during the nationwide strike called by 12 Islamist parties, police and witnesses said.
"Five people including a woman were killed in clashes ...The Islamist groups claimed four them to be activists of theirs," a witness said.
The witness said that several activists of Islamist outfit Kherlafat Majlish backed by fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) attacked policemen as they intervened at the scene after the Islamists assaulted a senior ruling Awami League leader.
The Awami League leader led an anti-strike demonstration and tried to clear a barricade on a major highway, set up to enforce the stoppage.
"Angry villagers joined the clashes after an ordinary housewife died in police gunshots worsening the situation.... Khelafat Majlish and Jamaat said the four dead were their workers," the witness said.
Chief of the local police station Liakat Ali told PTI that 16 policemen, including himself, were wounded in the clash.
"They (Islamists) attacked us with large heavy knives, sticks, bricks and firearms from three sides...We had to use gunshots and tear gas shells for self-defence," a police officer was quoted by TV channels as saying.
Media reports said over 50 people were injured and were under treatment at local hospitals.
The violence erupted as 12 parties, proclaiming to be "like-minded Islamic parties", called the nationwide shutdown as a counter protest against youngsters, including internet bloggers, whom they called "atheists and anti-Islam".
The youngsters denied the allegation as a "nasty propaganda" and urged their countrymen to be alert against "exploitation of their religious sentiment" by such a campaign.
